Yemen tribesmen blow up main oil export pipeline

SANAA: Tribesmen blew up Yemen's main oil pipeline Saturday, halting deliveries from oilfields in the interior to the Ras Isa export terminal on the Red Sea, provincial and tribal sources said.

The pipeline, which carries some 100,000 barrels of oil per day from fields in the restive eastern province of Marib, has been repeatedly attacked by saboteurs, most recently in May.

The latest attack took place very early Saturday in the Habab district of Marib, which has been prey to violence by armed tribesmen seeking a greater share of oil jobs and revenues, as well as loyalists of Al-Qaeda.

The sabotage forced engineers to shut down the 320-kilometre (200-mile) pipeline to the floating Ras Isa terminal, north of the port city of Hodeida, an official said.

Yemen is a minor producer but relies on oil and gas exports for 90 percent of its foreign currency earnings.

Attacks on infrastructure cost the impoverished country $4.75 billion over the two years from March 2011 to March 2013, according to government figures. (AFP)